


Golden Hour

by terundoru



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terundoru/pseuds/terundoru
Summary: It’s too early, Tachibana-san.





	Golden Hour

He nudged a rock over the side of the cliff and listened as it skipped down the side. It didn’t seem as steep as he’d thought it would be after their hike, but he was positive it wasn’t a fall he’d like to make, either. It was too dark to know for sure how far up they were. All he had for now was the memory of last time they’d come up here for training.

He pressed the "next" button a few times on his phone. Every song it played irritated him. He ripped his headphones from his ears, bunching them into a tangle and shoving it all into his pocket at once.

The morning's activities hadn’t woken him up as much as he’d hoped, and instead, his eyes felt heavy, and he was and hyper-aware of the long day ahead of him. He had stretched as much as he felt his body could handle without unintentionally hurting himself. Sitting still in meditation had gotten old fast, and he wasn't sure that it was wise to go for a run on what energy he had reserved.

He wound up his leg and, with all his might, he kicked another rock, this time into the woods, hoping to hit a branch or something interesting.

But he didn't.

“Kamio.”

Tachibana stood with his arms crossed as usual, his eyes fixed on the path beyond the forest they’d emerged from nearly an hour before. Even in the darkness, he looked somewhat sleepy. He hid it well—he always did. Kamio had seen his face so many mornings, he could tell when he was wide awake and well rested and when he wasn't, but the differences were subtle. It had taken hours of study to be sure.

Only the slightest rays of light had started to peek between the trees and spotlight arbitrary plots of grass. As he walked toward his captain, Kamio stepped on all the spots where the light shone, somehow expecting them to disappear with every crunch against the dewy green but, naturally, the light only passed to the top of his shoe, making him feel somewhat foolish for thinking even briefly that he could extinguish it.

With a smile and a sharp exhale, he joined Tachibana’s side. He traced the approximate shape of a star in the grass with the toe of his sneaker a few times before he grew bored of that and crossed his arms in the same captainly manner as Tachibana-san and turned his focus to whatever it was that he had been watching.

But it was just the path.

“They’ll be here soon, Tachibana-san,” he assured him. "The sun's only just now coming up."

“I know.” Tachibana nodded. He broke his gaze and looked to Kamio, adjusting his stance for the other boy.

Kamio stifled a yawn. He rubbed his eye with the back of his hand and flipped his hair to the side, finger-combing it back down to obscure the left half of his face like it always did. He jogged in place a few steps to shake himself awake, a moderate success. He returned his hands to his pockets and stood still again. The birds had all at once seemed to rouse and sing loudly a chorus of "good mornings" from the trees. It was annoying, but as he fingered the cord of his headphones, the thought of untangling it discouraged him from attempting to drown out the birdsong with his own music.

He sighed and gently headbutted Tachibana's arm, casting his eyes up to his.

“Why did we get here so early?”

“We have to be here first. It’s our responsibility.”  
  
“Well, yeah, I know, I just," he huffed, wide-eyed and flustered, softening with every word. "I dunno know why we didn’t come a little later...that’s all...”

Tachibana tipped his face to meet Kamio’s eyes.

"So we could be alone for a while." He spoke evenly and deliberately.

He lifted his head up from Tachibana’s arm, silently questioning if he meant what he thought he meant.

The words rolled off his tongue like honey and dripped into the air around them, manifesting in sunbeams and washing out the blush that spread over both of their cheeks and bathed them in a warm glow. He said them so easily and honestly that there was really no mistaking their meaning.

Kamio pressed against him again, this time needier, and, in one movement, Tachibana pulled him into his chest, resting his hand in his hair. They faced the ledge, their school’s neighborhood slowly waking up at the bottom. All of the rocks Kamio had kicked over it earlier were now long lost to the early morning, and now he remembered how far up they were.  
  
They had been walking home side by side and stealing awkward kisses for nearly a month, their relationship kind with the innocence of youthful inexperience. 

Tachibana sometimes seemed much older than he was, but he was only a year older than Kamio and just as unsure at times. He did his best to hide it in his confident demeanor and protective grasp, but Kamio could also feel the occasional hesitation, the slight hitch in Tachibana's breathing as Kamio nuzzled into the nook between his neck and his chest. It was his favorite place to be. He'd decided that a week and a half ago after they had stayed late to work together on the club’s vegetable garden, and he looked forward to returning there whenever he’d gotten the chance.

He tucked a stray hair behind his ear that had been persistently tickling his nose and, in that moment, he boldly decided that he should kiss him, because it felt right, and he liked doing it, and Tachibana's lips were right there within reach from the nest of his jersey, which smelled familiar and comfortable and vaguely like vanilla.

His lips were chapped and boyish, barely parting at all.

He hadn't considered that this was an option today—they wouldn't be alone there for long, after all—and he mentally scolded himself for not trying something sooner. Kamio didn't mind the early morning anymore, but even so, his eyes began to close, practically purring as his boyfriend (he paused and blushed as he thought about calling him that) ran his fingers underneath his undercut. Pressed against the chest of a heart, beating wildly, the rhythmic thumping quickly lulled him into a dreamy state. 

Although his face suggested composure, his pulse suggested butterflies. Kamio tried to telepathically transmit waves of his serenity. Tachibana’s posture softened, and he was pleased to believe that it was definitely working.  
  
“Tachibana-san,” he muttered, still clinging to the comfort of honorifics, and clinging to him, tightening his arms around and trying fruitlessly to snuggle in closer.

The blue sky spread through the green of the trees and he realized that, actually, any moment now—

A cough rang from behind them, and a form emerged from the forest.

He squeaked and unwound from Tachibana’s arm. He could feel his body shaking, his face growing hot.

“It’s fine, Kamio.” he spoke softly, firmly, and clasped his hand and then let go, reassuring him that he meant what he’d said, then crossing his arms like he always did.

“Good morning Akira, Tachibana-san,” Tetsu said with a refreshing smile and a nod to each of them. “Shinji and Sakurai are right behind me. And...I’m sure Uchimura and Mori just got a late start...”

Kamio nodded, accepting the words but not comprehending them, his head still pounding from the rush of _absolutely_ being caught, this mouth slightly agape. He flipped his long fringe to the front and passed an inconspicuous glance at Tachibana from beneath it, a trick he’d learned when looking to Mori’s desk for quiz answers in class. It usually worked.

Tachibana placed his hand on Kamio’s shoulder and a calm came over him, his nervous energy sated, his vision centered. His shoulders melted from the warmth of Tachibana’s palm. The buzzing of their mismatched rhythms softened into a hum, dusted with sugar.

He took a deep breath, crossed his arms, and smiled. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to go ahead and rip the band-aid off and actually post something, anything, and this was finished enough...so, I hope it was enjoyable.


End file.
